Tuesday, February 28, 2012

.Oscar Party Details.

Just a few details from our little party.
{i'm afraid you're in for picture overload}

My Hubby doing his version of "Red Carpet" Style

Just popping some bubbly

Hot Dog Bar. My favorite detail of the night.

I simply love hot dogs. Always have, always will. There is nothing better than a dog with all your favorite toppings, so this had me the most excited to set up and make. It was themed after the movie Moneyball, which played with the baseball stadium idea. For our condiment pickings, we used Ketchup, Yellow Mustard, Dijon, Sauerkraut, hot banana peppers, sauteed onions, srirachi sauce and homemade Chili {thanks Pete!}. We also special ordered some tasty hot dog buns from the Prairie Bistro {enjoy centre} which where a nice touch. Needless to say it was a huge hit.

"Have a bite Petey"

Oscar Cookies. Aren't they just wonderful? Ha. Not quite as pretty as the originals.

I'm taking zero credit for these cookies and was completely inspired with this wonderful idea over at Bakerella. I used their recipe and this royal icing to make my cookies. I should also note that I purchased my lovely little cookie cutter here and I finished these little bad boys off with edible gold spray paint.

Note: These cookies are VERY time consuming!

Chocolate Pie Bites. Obviously themed after the movie The Help.
I figured since this wasn't a sit-down-formal-eating style of party, bite sized pieces are the best way to go. So I just made this chocolate filling and poured it into store bought tarts for an easy, pop-in-your-mouth kind of dessert. I omitted the 'special' ingredient, however! I also added some whip cream and edible glitter stars to dress them up a little, and I think it did just the trick!

Big Apple Bites. Another dessert, which was themed after Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.
These simple cake pops where made using one of the most simple tricks ever...Timbits!!! I've tried my hand at cake balls before, and needless to say, that aren't as easy as they look. Then I thought, why not use good ol' Canadian timbits {and for those of you unfamiliar with these, they are basically the middle of a donut! Brilliant right?}, then I iced them to look like 'apples' {although they turned out hot pink and not red} and stuck a stick in the bottom. Easy Cake Pops!

Morgan and Fiona enjoying some apple cake bites

Black and White Cookies. These were 100% my sister. Thank you Kelsey for searching for them, then having to slave over cooking them. I really appreciated it! See, I made my poor sister hunt these down because we needed them to be themed after The Artist. She wasn't allowed to bring anything else, and after looking in store after store without luck, she decided that she would have to just make them from scratch. And well, my sis isn't really a queen of the kitchen, if you know what I mean, so the effort here was extra special.

Hawaiian Pizza Bites. Husband did this one. We had a couple homemade pizza dough's in the freezer that Pete did the other day and they were perfect. He basically made Hawaiian pizza and cut it up into itty-bitty bites. Perfectly themed with The Descendants.

Champagne with Blackberries. My little touch for Midnight in Paris. Something about Paris makes me just want to sip champagne. I think it looked very pretty too. A big thank you to Greg + Morgan for supplying the bubbly. It was a sophisticated touch.

Popcorn Bar. Movies = Popcorn. Simple as that. I popped a big bowl of kernels and left out toppings such as Rosemary infused Salt, White Cheddar sprinkle, Salt N' Vinegar sprinkle, MnM's, and Caramel. I found these pretty popcorn buckets at Homesense and just instructed everyone to get creative with their flavors.

Cheese Platter. For the movie Hugo, I was having a huge issue with what to pair it with. I thought of french fries, since the movie was themed in France, but then remembered that I had some beautiful cheeses in my fridge. So the cheese platter was born.

Carrot Sticks and Veggies. Fresh veggies are always a nice addition to a party buffet since usually most of the table is laced with rich foods and the fresh veg is a refreshing quench for the pallet. Then I thought that since Joey {the horse} from War Horse loved his carrot sticks so much, it would pair perfectly with that movie. Win Win. Oh, and thanks to James + Fiona for bringing that platter. Very sweet of you!

Brie Bites {2 kinds}. My last food pairing of the night. Since this was one of the only movies I didn't get to actually watch before the big day, I didn't know what on earth to match up with The Tree of Life. Then I got to thinking, how about the Brie of Life! Cheesy, yes...but it works! So my brie bites where born. I choose to do 2 kinds to switch things up a little.
One sweet. One spicy.Sweet: Buy store bought puff pastry tart shells and fill with 1 brie cube, 1/2 tsp brown sugar, 1/2 tsp chopped pecans, and a dollop of honey. Bake at 350F for 15 minutes, till the cheese is melted.Spicy:Buy store bought puff pastry tart shells and fill with 1 brie cube, and 1 tsp jalapeno jelly {I used pomegranate habanero jelly} and bake at 350F for 15 minutes.

Games: I got everyone to fill out a ballot card as soon as they arrived. I also collected $10 per person for the winner's pot. Then I printed off a bunch of Oscar bingo cards to keep everyone entertained for the duration of the show and in between the breaks. I think it did the trick, as everyone seemed to be trying to catch each space on their cards throughout. Things like a Brad Pitt sighting, a Presenter in a yellow dress, A winner gets teary-eyed, etc. etc. In the end, my sister Kelsey ended up with a Bingo {2 lines was chosen as the Winning Bingo} and won the movie passes, which was the prize for that game. As for the Big Oscar Winner pool, that was a 3 way tie {Way to Go James, Mikael, and Peter!} so we had an immediate 5 question wins-it-all-go-round. My friend Fiona and I choose 5 random oscar questions about the night and had each winner write down there answers on a piece of paper. In the end Mikael was the Victor and took home the big pot-o-cash!

All in all, it was a fun interactive night and I think everyone went home with a smile on their faces.
xx

17 comments:

So creative! I loved all of your food ideas. I wish I could throw a party like that :) Bravo! And GENIUS idea to make the cake pops with Timbits. I am definitely taking that approach next time I make them.

Thanks Mel! I've tried making cake pops before and failed miserably, so this was just the best thing ever! Heat your icing before dropping in your timbits and then let it dry a little before plating them....that was my mistake and the icing got everywhere! Very tasty though! Have fun!xxErinnT

Oh my goodness Erin! This party looked absolutely fabulous. I love your attention to detail. Tying the food to movies is genious and it looked perfectly Oscar glam but still relaxed and fun. Those are some lucky guests to be invited to what looked like such a wonderful party. PS loved the hot dog bar, genious! Thanks for being such an inspiration.

Oh Twyla! We wish we could have invited everyone, but sadly with the amount of seats that where needed we had to keep it quite small. And we didn't have any kidlets at it for the sheer fact of space and running around.....If we do it next year, for sure love! xx

Wow this party really looked amazing!! You're so creative! Over in Amsterdam most people didn't even know what the Oscars were about...so no party for me :( Maybe we should fly you over to host one next year! :) Have a great weekend xxx

This is perfect. I can't even tell you how great this is!!! I only wish I could have come up with such a fantastic menu inspired by the movies! I only wish we lived closer do we can inspire each other in person with our fabulousness!! Love you!